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Nov. 22nd, 2007 01:35 pmI'm waiting for an order I made in August.
Ages ago, I emailed two different customer service email addresses and asked if it had been delayed, but no-one answered. Today I decided to go via the site help desk.
There were lots of lovely e-forms to fill in and I chose the right one and gave it the right information. Within seconds I got a reply back (company details suppressed because their product is good, though if I need Customer Service even one more time I will never order from them again).
"Dear Valued BUSINESS NAME Customer:
In order to respond to you as quickly as possible, we are sending this automated response to your recent e-mail. At this time BUSINESS NAME only offers customer service by toll-free telephone. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We invite you to call us toll-free at 1-800-etc. Knowledgeable representatives are available to assist you Monday - Friday, from 8 AM to 12 Midnight PM EST. Thank you for your interest in BUSINESS NAME. We appreciate your business and your patience. We look forward to being of service to you. Sincerely, Customer Care"
I rang the number. Immediately a nice American man told me that they weren't handling calls on 22 November, out of respect for Thanksgiving. How nice of them. Especially given today's date. Except it turned out they weren't using the same clock as me, because a second later I was speaking to someone in India.
He told me that I should have complained a month ago and was past the time limit for help. I didn't go into the litany of how I had tried but that the systems were fouled up, because I had already exclaimed "Thank goodness, someone who can help!" Anyway, he said he would email his supervisor and request my order be sent again.
Within three minutes I received an email.
"BUSINESS NAME
Customer Service Feedback
Dear Gillian Polack,
Thank you for contacting BUSINESS NAME regarding your recent order! We hope you enjoyed your recent service experience while speaking to one of our support representatives.
We are constantly looking for ways to improve the quality of our customer service and support. To do that, we need to know what you think. We'd greatly appreciate it if you would take just a few minutes to respond to a short survey. As a valued customer, your feedback about our customer support service is the most important information we can get. Please help us make your next BUSINESS NAME service experience the best experience possible. Please visit the link below
URL
Thank you again for contacting BUSINESS NAME, and we look forward to assisting you with all your future WHAT FIRM DOES needs.
NAME
Vice President - Customer Service"
Yay! A chance to explain things! I love explaining things!!
The link took me back to their site's UK front page. I signed in (again, since previously I had signed into the Aussie page and I thought that maybe the forms were hidden under the login) and explored a bit and there was no feedback form. I'm snarky today anyway (a moderate pain day always brings forth snark) and so decided to email the Customer Care person who had just emailed me. Because I needed to express myself, rather than because I thought it would reach a real live person. I'm not that stupid. Truly.
I said:
"This link did not lead to a survey, just as the emails I sent asking about my order the last few months didn't lead to a help desk and the forms I filled out online led to me getting an email saying that the forms weren't relevant and I should ring up. I don't know if this email will reach anyone either, but I thought you ought to know that if it wasn't for the useful person on the toll free line (who answered despite the US voice telling me a moment before that no calls could be handled on 22 /11) I would have been a very unsatisfied customer.
And that's the feedback on customer service that your link didn't let me give!! (it led to the main page, in case someone *does* read this email and wants to know what's wrong with the site)
Gillian"
And I got a reply!!
"Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.
Subject: RE: We want your feedback on our customer service!
Sent: 22/11/2007 1:43 PM
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
'customercare@BUSINESS NAME.com' on 22/11/2007 1:43 PM
550 5.7.1 (CNT:URI) Message contains a banned URI"
Ages ago, I emailed two different customer service email addresses and asked if it had been delayed, but no-one answered. Today I decided to go via the site help desk.
There were lots of lovely e-forms to fill in and I chose the right one and gave it the right information. Within seconds I got a reply back (company details suppressed because their product is good, though if I need Customer Service even one more time I will never order from them again).
"Dear Valued BUSINESS NAME Customer:
In order to respond to you as quickly as possible, we are sending this automated response to your recent e-mail. At this time BUSINESS NAME only offers customer service by toll-free telephone. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We invite you to call us toll-free at 1-800-etc. Knowledgeable representatives are available to assist you Monday - Friday, from 8 AM to 12 Midnight PM EST. Thank you for your interest in BUSINESS NAME. We appreciate your business and your patience. We look forward to being of service to you. Sincerely, Customer Care"
I rang the number. Immediately a nice American man told me that they weren't handling calls on 22 November, out of respect for Thanksgiving. How nice of them. Especially given today's date. Except it turned out they weren't using the same clock as me, because a second later I was speaking to someone in India.
He told me that I should have complained a month ago and was past the time limit for help. I didn't go into the litany of how I had tried but that the systems were fouled up, because I had already exclaimed "Thank goodness, someone who can help!" Anyway, he said he would email his supervisor and request my order be sent again.
Within three minutes I received an email.
"BUSINESS NAME
Customer Service Feedback
Dear Gillian Polack,
Thank you for contacting BUSINESS NAME regarding your recent order! We hope you enjoyed your recent service experience while speaking to one of our support representatives.
We are constantly looking for ways to improve the quality of our customer service and support. To do that, we need to know what you think. We'd greatly appreciate it if you would take just a few minutes to respond to a short survey. As a valued customer, your feedback about our customer support service is the most important information we can get. Please help us make your next BUSINESS NAME service experience the best experience possible. Please visit the link below
URL
Thank you again for contacting BUSINESS NAME, and we look forward to assisting you with all your future WHAT FIRM DOES needs.
NAME
Vice President - Customer Service"
Yay! A chance to explain things! I love explaining things!!
The link took me back to their site's UK front page. I signed in (again, since previously I had signed into the Aussie page and I thought that maybe the forms were hidden under the login) and explored a bit and there was no feedback form. I'm snarky today anyway (a moderate pain day always brings forth snark) and so decided to email the Customer Care person who had just emailed me. Because I needed to express myself, rather than because I thought it would reach a real live person. I'm not that stupid. Truly.
I said:
"This link did not lead to a survey, just as the emails I sent asking about my order the last few months didn't lead to a help desk and the forms I filled out online led to me getting an email saying that the forms weren't relevant and I should ring up. I don't know if this email will reach anyone either, but I thought you ought to know that if it wasn't for the useful person on the toll free line (who answered despite the US voice telling me a moment before that no calls could be handled on 22 /11) I would have been a very unsatisfied customer.
And that's the feedback on customer service that your link didn't let me give!! (it led to the main page, in case someone *does* read this email and wants to know what's wrong with the site)
Gillian"
And I got a reply!!
"Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.
Subject: RE: We want your feedback on our customer service!
Sent: 22/11/2007 1:43 PM
The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
'customercare@BUSINESS NAME.com' on 22/11/2007 1:43 PM
550 5.7.1 (CNT:URI) Message contains a banned URI"